Trailers from UK farms taken 1000s of miles away as thieves use drones to target victims
Theft of trailers is now so high that one in ten of them checked by an industry register was found to have been stolen.
A huge rise in thefts of farm trailers and horseboxes has seen the vehicles end up thousands of miles away after travelling via Ireland.
Theft of trailers is now so high that one in ten of them checked by an industry register was found to have been stolen.
Industry experts said the crime is being driven by growing demand from domestic and international markets for stolen trailers, while organised crooks are using drones and trackers to seek out and target vehicles for theft.
According to the National Farmers Union (NFU) Mutual Rural Crime Report, the cost of rural crime rose sharply by 22 per cent in 2022, reaching a total estimate of £49.5 million insured.
Trailer thefts saw the biggest increase when compared with other types of rural crime, with figures up 66 per cent.
The NFU report found that soaring second-hand market values and higher finance costs were fuelling the trend for thieves to target trailers to sell them to Eastern Europe, where many have ended up.
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They are often moved via Ireland since the UK and Ireland allow trailers to be registered with the towing number, not their own registration plates.
Jim McLaren, NFU Mutual Chairman, said in the report that: “Today, crime is controlled by organised and often international gangs, and world events and new illicit markets have an impact on the demand for stolen kit.”
The Equipment Register (TER), Europe’s largest database of stolen plant and equipment, reports that 10 per cent of checks undertaken on its database match stolen items.
The TER database includes 1.6 million items, of which 850,000 are trailers.
Treve Jenkyn, the Data Director at TER, says that trailer owners are facing increasing obstacles to prevent theft. “Thieves are using technologies such as drones and trackers to identify trailers to steal, even when they are supposedly stored securely on a farm’s premises.
"Thieves put their trackers on target trailers to identify a location for easy theft. They are also using social media sites like Facebook Marketplace to sell stolen equipment.”
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Valerie Isted, who owns Equinity Trailers, has a fleet of 60 Ifor Williams horseboxes for short- and long-term hires that are all registered with The Equipment Register.
She told how The Equipment Register helped with the recovery of two of their horseboxes:
She said: “We have registered all of our horseboxes with The Equipment Register and this action has thwarted the theft of two of our trailers. Every time someone runs a check against one of our horseboxes, The Equipment Register contacts ourselves as the registered owners to let us know.
"On one recent occasion we were alerted to a check on one of our Ifor Williams horseboxes that was being advertised for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Blackpool, some 300 miles away. Although the thieves had caused some damage to the trailer’s chassis, we were delighted to be able to recover our property and prevent it being sold on.
"Rural crime is on the rise, and it is essential that any would-be purchaser looking to buy a horsebox checks The Equipment Register’s database to ensure that the trailer is not stolen. We would also recommend that horsebox owners make sure they have
their trailer registered pre-loss to maximise the chances of its recovery post theft.”
